When was the last time we made 1 undeniably GOOD signing...?

[Rhyme Animal]

I was thinking when looking at the 2 teamsheets yesterday, and it really struck me just how bad our signings have been compared to other clubs.

Look at Liverpool's starting 11, I've bolded the players that've all been signed fairly recently by them and that are all really good signings...

• Alisson
• Clyne
• Lovren
• van Dijk
• Robertson
• Mané
  
• Wijnaldum
• Fabinho
• Keita
• Roberto Firmino
• Salah

With Shaqiri coming off the bench.

Do you not think it's odd, surreal even, that we haven't got even 1, post Fergie signing that's been an undeniable success in our entire match day squad...

• De Gea
• Darmian
• Bailly
• Lindelöf
• Young
• Dalot
• Herrera
• Matic
• Rashford
• Lingard
• Lukaku

Subs -

• Jones
• Pogba
• Mata
• Martial
• Romero
• A Valencia
• Fellaini

I mean, cmon... how the feck do you even manage that...? Seriously?

Then when you consider di Maria, Falcao, Sanchez, Bastien, Depay, Morgan...

The miss ratio is actually phenomenal considering the wages of the people who's job it is to scout and sign these players.

Zlatan is probably the closest thing to an out and out successful signing, and he was a mid 30s striker who many didn't enjoy watching play.

So what's going on? Why are all these players being signed - or, why are they all failing? It's a genuine question.

Look at City's recent signings...

Mahrez
Sané
Laporte
Stones
Mendy
Walker

Arsenal -

Aubameyang
Lacazette
Torreira
Kolasinac

We can out-spend every team in the PL bar citeh, yet we literally can't field 1 successful signing...

I dunno, when you put it that simply, it just seems bizarre. Like, beyond 'bad management' etc, and closer to some kind of strange achievement.

It appears that it would be difficult to maintain that kind of miss ratio with the amount of money spend over 3 different managers!

 

[Sterling Archer]

I don't know what to analyze anymore. We keep getting thread after new thread to explore another way in which we've failed as a club. Im still somewhat incredulous that this is reality. We've come just shy of completely destroying England's most successful club and almost three special decades of getting us there in one fifth the time. And the spiral downward continues. It's a feckin nightmare.

 

[ash_86]

I refuse to accept our recent signings as poor before assessing them under a new manager. Sanchez could be deadly under someone who knows how to use him.

 

[el3mel]

Van Persie the last one. Even Zlatan had several argument about him, despite loving him personally. RVP is the last undoubted one.

 

[Deleted member 101472]

If you want your answer to be devoid of any kind of scrutiny, then it has to be David De Gea

 

[Big Ben Foster]

Our recruitment strategy overall seems to be more reactive than proactive. Even then, our failure rate over the last few years is shocking.

 

[Amadaeus]

It is because of our change in transfer policies. I knew this will happen a couple of years ago when I stated that we are signing mercenaries and not footballers any more with our transition to galaticos-esque signing. We no longer monitor the players attitude and we just throw money on “supposed” world class signing.

I remember when Sir Alex Ferguson would had dinner with a player family before signing him to understand if he would be a ‘team fit.’ Now we just sign Instagram footballers who are more interested with their social media followers than sprinting 40 yards to win a ball back.

 

[Rhyme Animal]

Van Persie the last one. Even Zlatan had several argument about him, despite loving him personally. RVP is the last undoubted one.

If you want your answer to be devoid of any kind of scrutiny, then it has to be David De Gea

Post Fergie signings only guys, as it says in OP.

 

[Class of 63]

I wouldn't give up on Lindelof, Bailly, Shaw, Martial or Pogba just yet, they just need a Manager who instills confidence in them and not kick them out of the squad for a month as is the case at present if they make a mistake.

And there's a lot more to come from Lukaku as well providing we play to his strengths.

 

[el3mel]

Post Fergie signings only guys, as it says in OP.

Zlatan as you said, but he still had some arguable things about him like missing easy chances. I loved him personally though.

Martial and Pogba have potential but with some flaws arising here and there. Both can be successful long term.

The rest, average at best and that includes Mata yes.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Firmino isn't a really good signing?

As for us, the signings can't be undeniably good when the team is an incoherent and poorly managed mess. Some of our signings are, I'm sure, objectively poor from any perspective. However even the ones that could work out well don't due to the motivating factors.

 

[Deleted member 101472]

Post Fergie signings only guys, as it says in OP.

There’s your answer. There hasn’t been one, literally.

 

[reddevil702]

Most of those sigings seemed great at the time. I remember the negativity on here when we were linked with Mane after everyone wanted Pedro, same with Shaqiri. Now everyone complains that we didn’t sign them.

 

[peridigm]

I refuse to accept our recent signings as poor before assessing them under a new manager. Sanchez could be deadly under someone who knows how to use him.

Exactly what I was going to say. LVG and Jose are poor examples to assess our signings by, even though they signed the players. Well, most of the players. I believe Woodward has made his signings too. Nonetheless, that many players can’t be shit but two managers certainly can, especially since we’ve seen them both be shit elsewhere before coming to United. Conversely, all the players that have failed here were great at their previous clubs. SAF even had one in Kagawa. Misused him immensely to satisfy Rooney’s position.

 

[VeevaVee]

Just looking at the names tells a story. They're all either past it, not good enough and/or strange attitudes. The latter is a definite pattern.

Easy to say in hindsight perhaps, but not that difficult to see at the time really, specially with inside knowledge available.

Having no system the entire time doesn't help, but it's not smart recruitment at all.

 

[Salus Populi Suprema Lex]

In the post Fergie era, Zlatan is the only signing I can think of who has been a resounding and undeniable success.

 

[Bobcat]

I hate trying to sound positive on a day like this, but i am pretty sure half of the players we have signed post Fergie would have done great under proper leadership and management. All the stupid shite and shitty attitude we see our players do today, how do you think Keane/Ferguson would react to that?

 

[Tarrou]

RVP for me, and for a squad player Romero has been really good too

I do rate a lot of our new players though, and whilst I wouldn't absolve them of all responsibility, I think they've done enough at our clubs and international level to suggest it is not entirely their fault they are not performing

Martial could be something really special if we get him playing in a good system that suits him

 

[Chicharo]

RVP...
As for post-Fergie era - undoubtedly Romero.He does everything he is supposed to do. Sadly, he isn't such an important player,

 

[Acole9]

I'd go for Ibrahimovic, don't care what anyone says about him. God knows where would've been that season without him.

 

[Keyser]

I refuse to accept our recent signings as poor before assessing them under a new manager. Sanchez could be deadly under someone who knows how to use him.

100% this for me, how can we judge Fred for instance when we've barely seen him, let alone any of the others. How many would have taken Lacazette or Aubamayang under Wenger and look at them now

 

[devil in me]

Our recruitment has been an absolute farce over recent years. The team sheet yesterday reflcted over £300m ploughed in by Jose alone, let alone the other 150/200m or whatever it is over the few years before that.
Not only have we signed numerous players who arent good enough, but we have signed players that we haven't needed, and given them all fat pay cheques to boot. Farcical.

 

[AndyJ1985]

van Persie was the last genuinely great signing we made. Everyone since then has ranged from absolute dirt to mediocre at best. Our recruitment has been disgraceful for years. It's nothing short of incompetent how badly we have squandered vast sums of money.

 

[Josep Dowling]

Just looking at the names tells a story. They're all either past it, not good enough and/or strange attitudes. The latter is a definite pattern.

Easy to say in hindsight perhaps, but not that difficult to see at the time really, specially with inside knowledge available.

Having no system the entire time doesn't help, but it's not smart recruitment at all.

This is why I don't think any of our signing have paid off. I think there have been some good players bought they just haven't been successful with us. This is down to the system we play.

A main example of this is Pogba. He was bought from Juventus where they played 4-3-3. Mourinho tried to use him in a midfield 2, his defensive weakness immediately gets exposed. Mourinho then tries using 4-3-3 to get the best out of Pogba but this show weaknesses in other parts of our first 11, mainly RW and defence. The whole thing is a mess.

 

[Lash]

Martial, I’d still consider a genuinely good signing.

 

[.Rossi]

Zlatan.

Martial, doubts about his consistency, even though he is a great talent in the making

 

[sunama]

Martial was probably our last good, exceptional signing.

Pogba can be great. I still remember when he played his first game, at OT, with Jose for the first time in our dug-out. The place was electric and so was Mr Paul Pogba. Ibrahimovic also played in his first match at OT.
We won that match with both Pogba and Ibra interviewed after the match. I believe Pogba got the MOTM award - he was like a rottweiler breaking up play in all areas of the pitch and turning defence into attack.
That Friday night was INSANE!!!

Had Ibra stayed (and not got injured), I think our trajectory would've been a lot different. He'd have been the connection between Jose and the players...but anyway, the rest is history.

Most of our players will need to be assessed under a new manager, which should happen in the Summer.

 

[Robbie Boy]

Zlatan, I would imagine. I mean he had his faults but he was free and done a relatively good job.

 

[hanovercigars]

Sergio Romero. Signed by LVG, in case David Dr Gea decided to leave a sinking ship.

He has delivered on all expectations. When he has been called up in place of De Gea he has been reliable. Doesn't moan about being a back up keeper either, even though he has been a number 1 keeper for both club and country before.

He is the best signing in terms of being and performing exactly to the standards expected. This also highlights how bad our transfers have been over the last six years when the best signing is a backup who barely even plays.

 

[ants7]

I refuse to accept our recent signings as poor before assessing them under a new manager. Sanchez could be deadly under someone who knows how to use him.

+1

 

[ROFLUTION]

Of the names in the original post, I'd probably highlight Wijnaldum as a good signing instead of Fabinho. Relatively cheap, has technique and knows his role and has been consistent.

Combined with having a manager that knows how to get the best out of a player you thought was mediocre at Newcastle, that's key. I'll say it again: We need to screen/scout players for their mentality, focus and hunger before we buy them instead of these big name signings to please investors and fans.

The players should be screened to see if they fit the manager and can bear the pressure of being at United. At the moment, I'd say we need hard working talented players who has focus on football matters and team-spirit. And are not focused on boosting their instagram or driving a fancy car. For example, Sanchez, Pogba, doesn't spell out team-players neither. Just a lot of attitude, that takes focus.

When you then look at what players we've been after: Willian, Alderweireld, Perisic.. Mature, hard working team-players.. I think it says something about Mourinho also knew this. (Still a bad manager though)

 

[harms]

Agree with the majority here — I still think that the likes of Martial, Pogba and Bailly, at least, have it in them to become an unquestionably successful signings, under another manager.

Herrera was probably a good signing. Not a great one, but he was relatively cheap and has done pretty much everything that I expected of him, including winning our POTY.

 

[Handré1990]

Fabinho and Shaqiri wouldn’t have been counted as successful until last night. Also, they ‘only did it vs United’...

 

[SqueakyWeasel]

Fred, Dalot, Lindeloff, Bailiey, Pogba, all good!

 

[Lentwood]

There are a number of reasons our transfer business has been so unsuccessful over the last 10yrs or so imo....

1) We have had four different managers with four different 'styles' in this time. SAF saw 'no value in the market' and was focusing predominantly on cheaper, younger players with one eye on the future. Moyes didn't have a clue what he wanted. LvG wanted flexible players capable of playing in multiple positions. Jose wants physical players performing specialist roles. This means that we end up with players who don't suit each other and with players playing out of position.

2) Woodward has meddled. This is undeniable, he said as much himself with his press briefings in the summer. It is not for a former accountant to tell a multiple domestic/European trophy winning manager that a player is 'not significantly better than the players we have' or a player is 'too injury-prone'. I highly, highly doubt Sheikh Mansour questions the list he gets from Pep.

3) We have focused on a weird mix of 'Galatico's' and 'marketable' players as well as players who are likely to provide the highest ROI. This is flawed. You should sign the best players available at any given moment, but also players who WANT to be at the club for reasons other than cash. Players like Perisic, Alderwerield and Willian would all have improved us but for one reason or another weren't pursued with the rumours being they were all considered too old with no re-sale value. The signings of players like Pogba, Falcao, Sanchez and Di Maria were meant as statements but in reality you're trying to ice a cake made of dogs**t - these types of flair players need solid foundations around them to perform at their highest levels. The obsession with Youth and ROI meant we've spent money on the likes of Shaw, Depay, Martial, Lindelof, Bailly and Dalot when it could be years before they prove to be consistently good players, if they do at all.

4) Our Scouting system appears laughably poor. Even Moyes remarked that he was shocked at the state of the set-up he inherited and that Everton's was far superior. Scouting at Utd under SAF usually consisted of a large element of 'cronyism' (relatives and ex-players) and/or usually consisted of signing the best players from our rivals because at that time it was possible to do that.

5) We waited too long and then had to try and replace too many players at once. We've debated a million times whether the Glazers made money available to SAF and we all have our own opinions on it, so I don't want to get too into that particular argument. However, the facts are that Giggs, Scholes, Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic and Evra all reached the end of their careers at about the same time without us having replacements lined up. Rooney, RvP and Carrick were also well on their way out by the time LvG came in, as where fringe players such as Fletcher. This means we haven't been able to be particularly strategic or target in our signings, we're trying to bolt multiple parts on to a moving car

6) Owing to the obsession with ROI on our 'assets' we don't move players on quickly enough. City, Liverpool, Chelsea etc....have all signed sh**e after sh**e player but they move them on quickly when it doesn't work. As Roy Keane said yesterday, sometimes you make signings and they don't work so you ship them out and try again! We seem to spend once and expect that player will be at the club 15yrs playing at a high-level every week....it's not the reality. If you look at Pep who has been highly successful, even he only really has around a 50% unqualified success rate in the transfer market since going to City, despite having unlimited funds. Why are the likes of Smalling, Jones, Rojo, Darmian, Young, Fellaini, Matta etc...etc...still at the club? Are they suddenly going to become world-beaters overnight? They've all had chances, they've all proved themselves not up to the levels required consistently enough so get them moved on even if we have to take a loss! City didn't sign Aguero, Silva, De Bruyne, Laporte, Mendy, Walker etc...in one window...it was a gradual process of 10yrs with reams of sh**e that they quickly moved on in between

 

[Smores]

Herrera. Martial, Zlatan are all good signings i don't see how it could be argued otherwise.

Still not a lot so the OPs point still stands.

 

[Buster15]

Van Persie the last one. Even Zlatan had several argument about him, despite loving him personally. RVP is the last undoubted one.

Good post and agree with RVP. I never thought that Sir Alex would get him. Won him his last PL title.

My biggest gripe is that we regularly spend far too much on far too few players who then simply don't perform to expectations. Lukaku and Pogba perfect examples.

 

[El Zoido]

The fact that none of the signings ever work out suggests an issue with the running of the club and coaching of the players. I cannot be coincidence that everyone we sign turns to crap within two months. The club is a rudderless disaster with no clear football philosophy or direction and it’s been that way for years now.

It’s a point I always go back to when people (yet again) blame the players - just imagine Messi playing for us. Within the month he’d look a shadow of his former self, two months and Jose would bench him and spend entire press conferences calling him a virus and questioning his attitude. Top reds then start booing his name when it’s read out on the team sheet and you’d get daily stories about him being desperate to leave.

 

[Maticmaker]

The United's 'curse' with signings has always been to buy a player then expect him to perform some other role to the one we bought him for, or to play to strengths the player hasn't got, rather than those he has!

This goes back years, certainly Fergie did it with many players, Ashley Young in particular. At Villa, Young was lighting fast down the middle and often tore us apart in that role, Fergie bought him, them stuck him on the wing and to my knowledge never played him once down the middle.
Mourinho seems to be following a well worn path at United, in playing people in roles where they haven't got the skills, or the nous, or just don't want to play there!

Not just a case of square pegs in round holes, its pegs where there are no holes!

 

[El Presidente]

I don't know what to analyze anymore. We keep getting thread after new thread to explore another way in which we've failed as a club. Im still somewhat incredulous that this is reality. We've come just shy of completely destroying England's most successful club and almost three special decades of getting us there in one fifth the time. And the spiral downward continues. It's a feckin nightmare.

That is so, so true.